A while back, I had you all help me pick a recipe to take to a potluck party. Now that the holiday’s are over, I am finally getting around to sharing the recipe I made. It was another dinner dish that was easy to put together and it was a big hit with everyone who tried it. It reminded me of a deep dish pizza. Just add a salad on the side and you have a complete meal.
Italian Crescent Casserole
Ingredients
- 1lb ground beef, cooked and drained
- 1 cup garlic tomato pasta sauce
- 1can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
- 1½ cups shredded Italian cheese blend
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil leaves
Instructions
- In skillet, mix cooked beef and pasta sauce. Heat over medium heat until warm.
- Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles. Place dough in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate in spoke pattern, with narrow tips overlapping rim of plate about 3 inches.
- Press dough in side and bottom of pan to form crust and cover the pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese over dough in the pan.
- Spoon meat mixture evenly over cheese.
- Bring tips of dough over filling to meet in center; do not overlap.
- Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup cheese over the dish followed by the basil. Bake at 375°F 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipe adapted from Pillsbury.
Kids really enjoyed it, but I did have the same issue of the dough not being fully cooked in the middle. I put the rack in the lowest position in my oven and used a glass dish… Will up the cooking time or precook the dough a little next time.
Found this recipe, and had to make it. It was realy easy to make, and after 20 minutes in my oven, the top and bottom crusts were perfect! Glass pie plate must make the difference. Served with a simple salad, and dinner was easy, quick, and little mess to clean up.
I did use ground soy (soy crumbles?), and it worked great. No browning of beef required.
Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Made this tonight using Rinaldi Garlic/Tomato Spaghetti Sauce with a jar of Walmart brand Pizza sauce and some italian seasoning. Everything else I made just like you said. Used a metal pan as someone threw my pie plates away. It cooked in just 15 minutes, I made 2 pans full thank goodness, IT WAS perfect! Got told I could do this instead of Pizza if I wanted to and they suggested variations on the meat and cheeses! THANK YOU!!!
I had trouble getting the triangles to cover the bottom on the 9\ glass dish so I turned the triangles around as per another reader. It worked out fine even with edges over lapping although the bottom wasn’t a complete crust. Might try this again & flatten the triangles out a bit more.
I made this for our supper tonight and it wasn’t just good, it was DELISH! I hate to admit it but my husband and I ate the whole thing! I will definitely make it again and again. Thanks so much for sharing!
Going to make this tonight! I have stoneware pie plate…I’m hoping that works well. I used to do Pampered Chef and they use cresent rolls for everything..should work!
Made mine with some Italian sausage, everyone loved it!!
I forgot to add, I use spaghetti sauce mixed in with the hamburger meat, added fresh garlic too.
Making this tonight for the second time, this is delicious!
It is a tomato based sauce.
What pasta sauce is everyone using? Is garlic pasta sauce a marinara, Alfredo??
Anna, I wondere too , so I went to the pilsbury link below and its a tomato sauce. Hope this helps!!!
I made this tonight and we devoured the entire thing (2 adults and 2 children). It was simple except I couldn’t fit all 8 crescent triangles so I just tore up the last one and placed it where needed. I make a similar recipe and ALWAYS use a glass pan. If the bottom isn’t golden brown after cooking time, I cover the top with aluminum foil so it does not burn and cook until the bottom crust is golden. This particular recipe only took 15 mins to cook.
It is officially added into our dinner rotation.
This dish is super delish!!!! I used ground turkey sausage instead of beef and also added more mozzarella cheese.
Yummy…thanks for sharing!
To Jenlo…if you place your dish on a cookie sheet and cook it on the bottom rack the dough will cook perfectly.
I made this tonight and it was SO GOOD! I cooked it on a lower rack in the oven for all 15 minutes and it worked perfectly for me. This is definitely a recipe we’ll make over and over
My husband and I just made this recipe last night, but made it with Italian sausage instead of ground beef, and doubled the recipe so that we could bake it in a 13″ x 9″ pan. This will provide dinner for the two of us for 4 days! (And a DELICIOUS dinner, at that!)
We also added a carton of sliced mushrooms and 1/2 onion. We lined the bottom of the pan with a tube of jumbo crescent rolls, put all of the ingredients in the middle, and covered the whole thing with another tube of jumbo crescent rolls.
We were also very generous with multiple Italian seasonings (basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, pizza seasoning, and garlic powder). My husband and I both thought this recipe was absolutely AMAZING! We will definitely be using this recipe when a group comes over for dinner.
I also love the fact that this recipe is super “forgiving,” meaning that you can pretty much mix up the combo in so many different ways, and it’s impossible for it not to come out absolutely delicious. For someone who has to work at not being a perfectionist, this recipe is incredible because perfect measuring is not at all required.
I made this with mild italian sausage and it was great.
Laura,
Great recipe. It was easy and QUICK. My family loved it. Next time, I may also add pepperoni and olives.
Thanks!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to make it! My family loved it!
I posted the recipe on my blog and tagged you in it!
Thank you!!!
http://grammasinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2012/02/italian-crescent-casserole.html
extreme dandruff Hi, I visit your blog occasionally and I have one similar to this and I was just wondering if you get spam responses? If so, how do you prevent it, anything on anti dandruff shampoos you can recommend?
I made this with a glass pan tonight and the bottom didn’t cook through. I think I’ll try to precook the dough for a few minutes before adding the filling next time.
My other suggestion would be to place it one level lower in your oven. It may be that the top of your oven is hotter than the bottom. However, pre-cooking is also a great idea. Just cut off the excess that would fold over the top. Pre-cook the bottom for a few minutes. Then add filling and dough triangles on top.
I used an aluminum pie plate (couldn’t find my glass one), so maybe the key is to use glass?
That may be it, try it with glass next time.
I made this last night, but the center of the crescents on the bottom were total goo. The top was golden and crusty, and the edges near the pie plate were cooked through, but we had to leave the entire center portion because the dough was raw. I even put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes after I cut the first piece. Anybody else have this problem? PS–other than the very center, the rest of the dish was yummy. My family liked it.
That was a concern of mine as well so I put the narrow tips in the bottom of the pie dish and flipped the big end over the top. It says not to overlap, but I did. We are big bread people so having all the yummy bready bits on top and crusty worked great for us.
And frankly, meat, cheese, sauce, and cresent rolls all together can’t go wrong with my boys!
So it turned out really good with the wider ends on top and overlapped! I added mushrooms and think next time I’ll add some corn too.
I should note that tonight was one of our ‘everyone eating at different times and places due to work/school/sports’ and when I went in for a little bit more, the dish was empty!
made this for dinner tonight!! It was SO yummy. After I flipped the ends of the crescents up & put the rest of the cheese on them I sprinkled some seasoning on top it’s suppose to be just like the Carraba’s seasoning I got the recipe from Pinterest. My son even asked for 2nds-OMG that means something in this house:)
I might need a picture on the dough part. Doesn’t seem like it’d cover the whole pie plate. do you have to roll it pretty thin?
I’ve made this recipe before, and it was delicious!
We make a similar recipe all the time in our house. Great winter comfort food!
Oooo looks yummy!! DInner anyone??